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After a truly engaging conversation with one of my coworkers last night, I started to really ponder some of the things that are happening in the world right now. Do you guys ever get like that? A conversation can spur a million thoughts and questions in your mind about the way things are or the way things should be. This conversation was great but as I said, it put me in a state of mind where I began to question the world around me. Let me dive in to this for a minute.

We are hearing a lot about global warming right now and that scientists are warning us that the effects of global warming are happening and they are happening faster than originally anticipated. Knowing this, we're also hearing a lot about how governments around the world are committing to reducing global emissions by a certain time in the future to reduce the global temperature increase. Their commitments seem minuscule to me when you consider the dire warnings we are receiving from scientists who claim that there is no time to waste.

With that in mind, it seems to me that drastic measures must be taken to reduce the damage done to our planet and reduce further damage we will cause and yet, we commit to paltry reductions over a several year period. If we know for example that vehicles that spew out fumes are contributing x amount of emissions and we know that mass production of meat contributes overwhelming amounts of emissions, why are we not tackling those things immediately? Like, in my opinion, we should be investing in electrical vehicles and doing heavy promotion of these vehicles in place of fuel based transportation. We should be doing heavy promotion of vegetarian and vegan lifestyles over the consumption of meat. We know that these things are destroying our planet, these are facts, and yet our governments continue to ignore those facts.

Now, I'm not so naive to think that disrupting the flow of society by saying that we need to stop eating meat immediately or we must switch to electric vehicles immediately would not be difficult, but when you consider our governments position to look after us and look after future generations of people in their respective country's, would it not be worth it?

I also think about smoking cigarettes for example. We all know that smoking has absolutely no good attributes and we know that people who smoke face significantly higher chances of so many illnesses including COPD, various cancers, and more, and yet we continue to allow them to be readily available because there is profit to be made from them. This profit from taxes is enough for us to turn a blind eye to the damage they are causing. In all honesty, if you are in a position where the people of your country are your responsibility, when does their well-being trump profit? In this case, it appears that never is the answer to that question.

I also think about cancer and AIDS and the years upon years of research we have done to find a cure. I think about all of the money that has been thrown into research and frankly, we are still seeing mortality rates that are astronomical. I can't help but wonder like, how much money and how much time will it take to find any answers here? In retrospect, we have visited other planets in our solar system, cloned animals, and are growing meat from cells, but we still struggle to find any kind of reasonable treatment for illnesses that have plagued our planet for years.

Which brings me to my next point. We know for example that processed foods have carcinogens, we know that pesticides that we spray on our crops to help them grow have carcinogens, and yet we continue to use these products. If our government is responsible for our well being, why are we still using these things or having them readily available to us? Why are we accessing things that are likely going to kill us or put us in a position that we get cancer which we still have failed to find a cure for? It seems to be a vicious cycle that all ties back to who's looking out for us in the end?

We all make choices in our lives to be the best versions of ourselves that we can be but with access to so many things that are put there to tempt us and ultimately kill us, it begs the question, who's truly looking out for us? Those responsible for making sure we are safe, healthy, and well taken care of, allow us access to things that are knowingly killing us. We can try to avoid these things but ultimately, it's inevitable that we are using SOMETHING in our daily lives that is poisoning us. Even our body washes, toothpastes, soaps etc., they all contain chemicals right? It seems to me that everything we are provided has extensive risks associated with it. Why is this the case?

What do you guys think? This is the end of my rant here y'all, I want to hear from you on this. Do you think we are given these things to make us ill to keep the circle of life flowing here or are they just so naive that they continue to be "unaware" of the harm of the things they provide us. Are we sheep? Do we knowingly consume even though we know the risks associated with these things and if so, why? Leave me your comments or message me on twitter, facebook, or linkedin with your thoughts :)HAPPY VEG

Hey guys, I wanted to remind you all of the importance of celebrating every success and milestone when it comes to animal rights. I know I've said this before but it's so important to make people feel good about their choices regardless of how big or small they may be. Celebrating these small victories will encourage people to want to do more which is ultimately the goal. Every effort made towards animal rights is a reason to celebrate.

Today I condemned someone who claims to be a compassionate vegan because he blasted vegetarians for being as bad as meat eaters. Although I appreciated his efforts, I reminded him politely that it was unfair to attack people for not doing enough as far as he was concerned. I reminded him of the importance of celebrating every success which ultimately encourages people to want to do more but our conversation went sour very quickly. He repeatedly attacked me and was verbally aggressive to me accusing me of supporting rape, murder, and other awful things. Again, I understand his message but he missed my point entirely which was our message of compassion should always be celebratory and encouraging, not condescending and rude.

What this proved to me is that there will always be people out there who will shoot you down for not doing enough. I was accused of not being a real animal lover because of my occasional dairy consumption and it kind of stung. I've spent 4 years of my life working on this blog, lobbying for better animal rights. I've spent countless hours contacting lawmakers and politicians across the globe trying to open up the possibility of better animal welfare in their country's. I've worked tirelessly to get trophy hunting banned, circus' shut down, and puppy mills banned. And for a brief moment, I questioned myself.

The moral of this story is simple guys, don't let anyone shit on you for what you're doing. If you're giving up meat twice a week, thank you! If you're choosing a vegetarian lifestyle, thank you! If you're boycotting circus' and zoos by no longer visiting, thank you! Every little thing we do is positive for animals and nothing anyone says can take that away from us. Kudos to those who go Vegan but I wonder in his case if aside from sharing grotesque images and the occasional cube of truth, what else he is doing aside form making other people feel less than him. Does he volunteer with animal shelters? Regardless, I appreciate his goals but find his method of attacking and berating people to be awful and not indicative of someone who is supposed to be compassionate.

At the end of the day, we must always be proud of what we do. If you take pride in your actions, you will never allow someone else to make you feel anything other than proud. I'm super proud of being a vegetarian of 17 years and nothing anyone says will take that away from me :)